Foothills Unitarian Universalist Church took in Ingrid Encalada Latorre, a Denver woman and undocumented immigrant from Peru. She faced deportation, but sought sanctuary instead of taking her two children to a country where they've never been.
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Longtime congregation member Ken Tharp greets Peruvian sanctuary seeker Ingrid Encalada Latorre after a service where she was introduced to the congregants, Sunday morning, Oct. 22, 2017, during a worship service at Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colo.(Photo: Timothy Hurst/The Coloradoan)Buy Photo

The about 170 congregants burst into applause, with cheers of "welcome" dotting the din.

"I appreciated it because it wasn't a golf clap," Rev. Gretchen Haley said. "It was a sincere show of welcoming."

Latorre, a Peruvian immigrant from Denver, took sanctuary in the church on Tuesday, hoping it would give her refuge from a deportation order. It hasn't been easy, she said, but she's appreciated the support. Volunteers help make sure her children, who are U.S. citizens, are able to go out and enjoy activities, even as their mother is sequestered in an auxiliary room at the church.

"Oh, my God," Latorre said in reaction to the reception by the congregation Sunday morning. "I feel comfortable, like family."

Several people made a point to say hello and welcome her personally after the sermon.

Latorre decided to seek sanctuary the same day of her planned flight back to Peru. Her sons were at the center of the decision, she said. She didn't want to rip her eldest from his friends and community in the only place he's lived, while her youngest, who is not quite 2 years old, was fighting the flu and an ear infection. She didn't want him to fly 18 hours in that condition.

The youngest is feeling better, she said, while the oldest is preparing to go back to Denver for school during the week.

Latorre, 33, said she is working with lawyers to restart her case, though she hasn't secured legal counsel yet. Her deportation order stemmed from a 2010 criminal conviction for possessing falsified or stolen identification papers. She took sanctuary at a Quaker meeting house in Denver from November 2016 until May while she appealed her conviction. She asked Gov. John Hickenlooper for a pardon, which he rejected.

In some ways, this time in sanctuary is harder than the first, she said. Mostly because she knew how hard it would be to be stuck indoors, unable to work and largely away from family. And she had a much clearer legal case to work on last time.

"I know how hard it is to stay in a church for a while," she said.

When she was moving in, she said she was mentally preparing to stay for the duration of President Donald Trump's administration.

The room she is staying in was previously used as a children's worship room, Haley said. The program is already overflowing, so they initially hoped to still use it while Latorre stayed there. Once Latorre arrived — and it became about a real person and not just support for sanctuary — it became clear the church would reorganize so as not to intrude on her living space.

The church congregation voted in August to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants facing deportation. Still, Haley knew there's differing opinions on it among the congregation — differing opinions that didn't take much priority when faced with a young mother trying to keep her children in their home country. The church has also received about two dozens vitriolic emails and phone calls for harboring Latorre, Haley said, though she tries not to give those messages much weight.

"It's a person," Haley said. "It's not a theoretical thing. She's a real person. It's like, come meet her! And when that happens, people just melt."

What is sanctuary?

Sanctuary isn't a formal law or code but an ancient practice of churches harboring people they believe to be unfairly persecuted. In recent years, it's been used more specifically for those facing deportation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement states on its website that it avoids taking action at "sensitive locations," which includes places of worship.